And So the great escape continues! When we got the Lakies (the puppies are Lakeland Terriers) we read up on them. There was a warning that they are known as the great escape artists, we laughed, but they weren’t kidding.

Firstly, when they were tiny we bought mobile fence panels, the plan was to expand their area slowly. As I have written before they became destructive in the confined space, not least decimating some of the panels when they realised they could push the wire mesh panels out by bouncing off them.

Then came our beautiful fencing that did not contain them, and had to have puppy mesh attached to it. We thought we were home and dry. Until RD looked out of the window one Saturday evening to see them running up and down the road in gay puppy abandon. They had gone through the railings on our front wall, like little eels they were through in a shot! We found ourselves that Saturday evening in the pouring rain attaching chicken wire to the railings in a bid to stop the two reincarnations of Harry Houdini that we have living with us.

But it continued… the plastic puppy mesh fencing did not live up to it’s name and they chewed through it! I went to call them in one day, during a quick break from work, only to find them running up and down the road in front of our house. My heart was in my mouth as I hurriedly chased them up and down what is, in essence, a lane, hoping that any cars would, for once, slow down when they saw me in the road. They do come when called, but being seven months old they then think it is a great game of chase with mummy. Bless our 94 year old neighbour, even she was out in the road with me. We were back to the drawing board.

So last week we were again back to our new fencing attaching chicken wire to the whole thirty metre length of it. By now we are well on our way to a spend of nearly €2000.00! That did it, they could not bite through.

The vet suggested letting them out into the paddock, in the hope it would take the mysticism away , and they would stay with us, if we sat out there. So we secured the farm gate that leads out to the road from the paddock and went out with a tube of bubbles. All went well, until Pixie got bored and wandered off behind the garage. As they do everything together Luna was in hot pursuit. They found a gap through to the field at the back and were gone. RD had to climb over the hill at the back of our garden in hot pursuit, shouting to me to go into the neighbour’s garden as they were heading there. After half an hour we managed to corner them in a pincer movement and bring them home. So much for that theory!

But when we got back into our garden the angel that is Elfie was nowhere to be seen. She had heard us calling and followed RD over the back into the fields. All we had to do was call and she came hurtling back over, like black beauty, running towards us , overjoyed to see us. No wonder we keep saying to the Lakies ‘be more Elfie!’

Imagine our surprise when yesterday, before even our first cup of tea, RD looked out to see them in the road again! They had climbed over the front wall, using their elbows. There we were in our jymbies chasing them around our poor, ever understanding neighbours garden. It was just gone 8am, and there was I a mad woman in pyjama shorts running round. Our neighbour came out of his mother’s house (the 94 year old neighbour who had tried to help me earlier) in his pyjamas to help me, and try to ignore that my arse was hanging out of my shorts! Rich was chasing one whilst we chased the other.

By now all of the household was up, generous and kind in their understanding that I had woke them all up on a Saturday morning. Rich caught Luna and put her in the garden, as he chatted to Anthony, he was acutely aware of the curry stains down the front of his jymbie top, and that Luna was back out of the garden behind him!

Apologies were offered to all, the naughty puppies were cuddled, especially Pixie Pop Tart, who just looks so cute, and we finally got to have our cup of tea.

The movable fence panels have now been positioned in their final resting place. I will need to paint them later in the summer. We had again lost almost a day to securing our garden. It is Elfie that I feel sorry for, she can no longer stand up at the wall to watch the world go by.

In the afternoon I listened to women talking in the hairdresser’s about a recent spate of thefts in the area. I had to giggle to myself as I thought ‘good luck trying to even get into the garden in our house!

We haven’t even started fencing the paddock! Oh My!

Rosie